Homeopathy in the Down Town East Side of Vancouver BC

by Lucy de Pieri

In 2009, a group of homeopaths were inspired to help
people struggling with substance and alcohol abuse in the Down Town East Side
(DTES) of Vancouver.
This area has a complex history of social and economic issues, often deeply
rooted in multiple generations of abuse, violence, neglect and poverty.

At the beginning, the group went through a
soul-searching process. “What is cure?” is often a challenging question to
answer, and it was particularly difficult when facing such deeply scarred
people. In the end, we concluded that our goal was simply to support
individuals in making choices regarding their substance misuse, and to use
homeopathic care to address their various health concerns.

Once we started seeing these individuals, it became
clear that we needed access to homeopathic remedies quickly and efficiently.
This problem was solved by homeopaths donating drops from their own remedies in
the medicated potency form; along with a supply of milk sugar pellets, these
become part of our pharmacy, established there in the DTES. There was also some
fundraising to help with the purchase of supplies.

When deciding what remedies to stock in the DTES
pharmacy, we originally thought we would need remedies from the Solanaceae
family and, after listening to Gabor Mate[1], we
decided that we should also include remedies from the Milk and Spider groups,
as well as first aid remedies. Over the last two and half years, however, we
have come to realize that although remedies from the Solanaceae, the Spiders,
and the Lacs are prescribed in our DTES practice, they are not prescribed any
more than in any other homeopathic practice. As for potencies, we are
prescribing remedies from the centesimal scales and the LM’s, and tissues salts
in the decimal scales - as always, depending on the individual.

Many of the patients we see are on a number of
prescription medications (as well as methadone) for a large number of disease -
including Hep-C, HIV, AIDS, asthma, bronchitis, depression, and sleep disorders
- and yet, patients are still responding to homeopathic remedies! What I have
noticed is that remedies need to be prescribed more often, so it is not unusual
to see the same person every 1-2 weeks, repeating or changing the remedy at the
follow-up; their state is so intense and fast, it is as if they have ‘burned
out’ the remedy. We often prescribe remedies in a liquid form and, as no
distilled water is available, remedies are placed in water bottles and sipped
during the day. This approach works very well in these conditions.

Since 2009, every week two homoeopaths offer their
care in three different locations in the DTES. The
challenges of each location fall within a range. At one extreme, homeopaths
could be seeing patients who are at the time under the influence of one or more
drugs and have come for acute care. In such cases, it is not easy to see what
symptoms belong to the effect of the drug(s) and what belongs to the
individual. This location is also open to the general public, and therefore
some people may not have drug- or alcohol-related issues: in such instances,
poverty is the overriding factor that affects their health and the choices they
make.

At a second location, homeopaths see individuals that
are de-toxing; acute care is given but in addition, on some occasions,
constitutional prescribing is possible. An important aspect of service at this
location is that individuals have decided to go into detox of their own
freewill, and thus they may be ‘ready for change’.

A common challenge shared at these two locations is
with respect to the continuation of care. It is often difficult – but not
impossible – to have regular follow-ups; without such regularity, it is not
always possible to assess if the remedy has worked.

At the third location, women who have been on the
streets for many years are now living in their own rooms, receiving food and
medical care. For them, this is the best home they have had for a very long
time. At this location, the women have undergone thorough detox and are now in
the process of understanding why they ended up living on the streets. At times,
they relapse and end up in detox for a while, before returning to their own
rooms. The vast majority of women whom we see have been abused and neglected as
children and as adults; here, we see the deep scarring that arises from
generations of violence and neglect - and yet, these individuals have the will
to change.

In order to reside at this third location, the women
have to follow strict rules and have to attend a certain number of programs
each week - for example, anger management, counselling, homeopathy, or yoga –
and in return, they are given an allowance for their personal use. Continuation
of care is more consistent here, and regular follow-ups are arranged; as a
result, it is easier to see how the remedy has worked. Under these
circumstances, more constitutional remedies can be prescribed, rather than the
arduous work of solely responding to acute conditions.

Regardless of the location, patients are delighted to
be listened to unconditionally; this is often the first time that someone has
sat down with them and just listened attentively, and without prejudices.
Sometimes, we only have fifteen minutes before the person leaves, other times
we have the luxury of being with someone for two hours. We prescribe on what is
in front of us, because it is all that we have and the goal is to support the
individual patient.

Interestingly, once the individual is not under the
influence of drugs, it is fairly easy to see the remedy needed. There is no
more compensation, no more pretending, their suffering is raw and - at times -
it seems as if they know the remedy’s keynotes! But of course, they don’t: that
is the source speaking within them.

The conditions we address depend partly on the drug(s)
used; for example, people using crystal-meth often end up losing their teeth
and we see them because they are in pain after a tooth extraction. To give
another example, one side effect of methadone is chronic and debilitating constipation;
this condition is turning out to be very hard to treat with homeopathy alone.
We often see people recovering from being run over by cars or from falling off
buildings while under the influence of various drugs. Apart from such
complaints that are directly related to their lifestyle, people also come to
see us for chronic pain - which is one reason why some started using drugs in
the first place, and then ended up living on the street. We see people with
abscesses, and systemic and chronic bacterial infection, where the individual
has been on antibiotics for two years (!) without any change - and yet, the
infection can be cleared with, for example, Silica.
Other health concerns that we see include chronic mental illness, digestion
issues, irritable bowel symdrome, ingrown toenails, and sleeplessness. With
respect to the latter, when living on the street, it is hard to sleep at night
- there is always a fear of being attacked – and, once in their room, this fear
still persists; it takes a while to heal such a fear.

When it comes to surprises, I once had a patient come in for, as
it turned out, morning sickness; she was very surprised that she was pregnant
because, with her lifestyle, she thought that she would never have children.

Conclusion

About two and a half years ago, I used to give short
presentations about homeopathy, in these locations. These days, patients tell each other that homeopathy works
and that it is good to see our counsellors. Time is now spent holding the space
and listening to heart-wrenching stories - and prescribing.

The patients are grateful for their homeopathic care.
We see that the women and the men are starting to make healthier choices.
Interestingly, the counsellors have noticed that after homeopathic care the
patients are able to talk about, and work on, traumas that they were unable to
approach before. Their minds are clearer and more progress can also be achieved
using other modalities.

In conclusion, it is an honour to volunteer as a
homeopath in the DTES. It is an incredibly humbling experience to see that,
despite all the traumas, abuse, and suffering that these people have gone
through, they are still alive - and homeopathic remedies still work well to
help them on their journey.

For more information about this work, please see
www.sidebysidehomeopathy.org

wonderful work done at DTESReply #11 on : Fri January 27, 2012, 11:45:25

great work Lucy and team of DTES. homeopathy is a science that heals, and when the healers take up the step forward with such determination, such warmth and with so much efforts and hard work- change has to happen, smiles have to follow, darkness has to vanish. i wish you all all the very best...

Posts: 11

toronto needs thisReply #10 on : Mon November 28, 2011, 21:20:54

Wonderful for this update...@ Domenic, contact me at lcoramai@rogers.com as we should connect with services like Street Health and such to put in some time ourselves. Best to the Vancouver crew, you are all an inspiration.

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DTESReply #9 on : Tue November 08, 2011, 06:18:09

What an excellent article, Lucy. You Vancouver homeopaths rock!

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Great service .Reply #8 on : Wed November 02, 2011, 01:36:37

Kudos to the whole Homeopathic team helping to let the havenots see the light of the day by pulling them out of the deep darkness of their souls. Keep it up.

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Re:Reply #7 on : Tue November 01, 2011, 21:49:10

An excellent article. It will inspire homeopaths everywhere to consider how they can bring homeopathy to a similar demographic in their cities. Thank you Lucy.

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This is such good work you are doing!!Reply #6 on : Tue November 01, 2011, 20:09:53

And very inspiring!!!

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Re:Reply #5 on : Tue November 01, 2011, 18:57:04

Wonderful to actually see results in people who society has given up on. I have been wondering what homeopathy could do for people who don't want any help from society, have their own problems.

It seems that even in these harsh circumstances homeopathy can help. Wow!

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KudosReply #4 on : Tue November 01, 2011, 18:49:32

Kudos to your group for its compassionate work.

Posts: 11

Homeopathy DTESReply #3 on : Tue November 01, 2011, 17:48:19

Thank You Lucy for this report and thank you to all of you Homeopaths that spread Homeopathy and in such kind loving way.

Posts: 11

DTESReply #2 on : Tue November 01, 2011, 16:00:10

Sorry, I don't know of anything happening in GTA Toronto, perhaps the homeopathic school there may be able to help you
Kind regards
Lucy